How to Make an Easy but Delicious DIY Ice Cream Cake

Ice cream cake is not for everybody. Let’s face it: some people just don’t like their ice cream embezzling from their joy of eating cake and, of course, vice versa. For those who enjoy the commingling of the creaminess and cakiness, however, nothing on earth quite beats the sheer joy of a mixture of the two in one heavenly bite.

Cake making for special occasions, seasonal events, annual celebrations and observances and the occasional commemorations pop up all through the year. The key is not coming up with a cake idea that can make everyone happy—you simply cannot please everyone all the time. Instead, you should start considering the ways that a cake enhance those elements of life that call for festive celebration. Anybody can go to the store and buy a cake, but it takes a real artistry that will be recognized to make a memorable ice cream cake.

THE CAKE

Make a cake using the mix of your choice, but making sure to use two separate pans. You want a top half and a bottom half. You will need a third pan of the same shape for the purpose of making the transfer of the ice cream/cookie mixture onto the the top of the cake easier.

TWO PINTS OF SOFTENED ICE CREAM

So start by heading to the store and buying two pints of ice cream, the flavor of your choice. Keep in mind that when it comes to ice cream cake recipes, the flavor of the ice cream can make or break it. If you want to play it safe, by all means stick with plain vanilla. If you want to dazzle with some razzle, think outside the vanilla bean and go for something wild. For instance, a Christmas cake would do very well with eggnog flavored ice cream. (You could go with some of the multitude of pumpkin spice ice cream left over from Halloween….but there is a very good reason that all that pumpkin spice ice is left over!) Anyway, buy two pint of ice cream and let it soften at room temperature.

COOKIES

While the ice cream is softening, chop up the cookies of your choices. Anything will do as long as it suits the flavor you are going for: Oreos, sugar cookies, vanilla wafers. Whatever…let your taste buds be your guide. When the ice cream has softened, mix in the chopped cookies and the spoon the mixture into a pan lined with plastic wrap. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allowed to set for an hour in the freezer.

THE SANDWICHING

Take the top half of your cake bottom side up and place it on a cookie sheet line with wax paper. Pull the ice cream mixture from the freezer and smooth it over the surface of the cake. Now take the second cake and place it bottom side down onto the ice cream mixture covering the bottom layer of cake. Press down lightly but firmly to secure the cake halves to the ice cream mixture.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

Cover with wax paper again and return to the freezer for another hour. Remove the cake from the freezer and whipped cream generously until the entire surface is hidden from view. The best results for this type of icing is a heavier whipped cream that comes in a tub rather than from a squeeze can. The squeeze can variety of whipped cream tend to be thinner and will only get thinner the closer to the bottom of the can you are pulling it from. Best results are also obtained by using a very wide, flat and smooth spreading utensil. In other words, a long flat metal frosting blade is better than a plastic spatula. The point is that you want to make sure you can cover every single inch of the exposed cake and the ice cream center smoothly and evenly. Once this has been accomplished, it is time to put the ice cream cake back into the freezer and leave it there until reading to server. The thicker type of whipped cream will likely need to thaw for about ten minutes to facilitate easy cutting for serving, but don’t let it sit and thaw for so long that melting process kicks in. If that should happen, simply return to the freezer for a half hour. For an added special sense of festive fun, consider adding food coloring to the whipped cream to mirror the color of your ice cream or cookies.